When TT first joined the gym he seemed like a nice enough fellow; friendly, eager to learn, showed respect to senior belts, and ready to make a positive change in his life. TT wasn't the most natural athlete (neither am I) but he wanted to improve and attended SAMBO classes regularly.

As the months went on a few of the higher belts start to notice TT had a bit of anger issue. He wasn't the type who would be screaming every time a barista messed up his cappuccino, but someone who bottles up his emotions until the pressure is too much and exploded at a random moment. It lead to a few incidents, but when ever they escalated too far TT would back down, apologize, and things would go back to normal.

Eventually he got good enough to test for his yellow belt, which I had the pleasure of attending. His technique looked solid, he followed instruction well, and was all set to pass....... after he got done with the gauntlet. The gauntlet is free grappling for about 15-20 minutes straight, getting fresh opponents every three minutes. You get tapped out a lot , but the point of it is to not give up and keep going even though your body has retired for the evening.

About 5 minutes in TT starts wheezing and says "Enough, I can't do anymore. I just got over a cold and can't breath"

"You sure you want to stop?"

"Yes." He stops and goes to the corner of the room, visibly frustrated.

Omega and I both agreed that his technique was good and he deserved the yellow belt. We decided to have him redo the gauntlet later in the week, when suddenly he throws his gi top and belt against the wall.

"That's it, I'm done, I'm never coming back here again either. By the way Mike, you have NEVER made anyone go through that before in a test."

Now I should let you know at that the last few years we changed our syllabus to included stripes for our white belts. We've found that having these mini steps help keep people motivated, focus on perfecting specific techniques, and is good way to track everyone's progress. Normally the stripe tests are just observing technique and doesn't include any physical conditioning or mental toughness. We save that for the actual belt tests.

I should also let you know that our SAMBO tests have become alot easier throughout the years. I remember you used to have to do a gauntlet just to earn a white belt. For my yellow belt test I was required to run 2 miles before I was allowed to start the warm up portion of the test. Sirc went into a mini coma after his yellow belt test. Never had to free grapple for a test? WTF was he talking about?

I was perplexed by TT sudden explosion and walk off the mat. Omega followed him to show him the door, he was a bit pissed at being accused of being "extra evil" just because TT was testing. Normally I would try to intervene in these type of situations but I felt Omega was justified; this was a normal part of our belt testing, stop being a baby about it. I even let him know later if he had just kept his mouth shut he would have passed. Because of his poor attitude, I had changed my mind.

There was more drama that followed, but I'll let Omega tell that part if he wants. We should let Dethlok and animamthr give some perspective on this as well.

When TT first joined the gym he seemed like a nice enough fellow; friendly, eager to learn, showed respect to senior belts, and ready to make a positive change in his life. TT wasn't the most natural athlete (neither am I) but he wanted to improve and attended SAMBO classes regularly.

As the months went on a few of the higher belts start to notice TT had a bit of anger issue. He wasn't the type who would be screaming every time a barista messed up his cappuccino, but someone who bottles up his emotions until the pressure is too much and exploded at a random moment. It lead to a few incidents, but when ever they escalated too far TT would back down, apologize, and things would go back to normal.

Eventually he got good enough to test for his yellow belt, which I had the pleasure of attending. His technique looked solid, he followed instruction well, and was all set to pass....... after he got done with the gauntlet. The gauntlet is free grappling for about 15-20 minutes straight, getting fresh opponents every three minutes. You get tapped out a lot , but the point of it is to not give up and keep going even though your body has retired for the evening.

About 5 minutes in TT starts wheezing and says "Enough, I can't do anymore. I just got over a cold and can't breath"

"You sure you want to stop?"

"Yes." He stops and goes to the corner of the room, visibly frustrated.

Omega and I both agreed that his technique was good and he deserved the yellow belt. We decided to have him redo the gauntlet later in the week, when suddenly he throws his gi top and belt against the wall.

"That's it, I'm done, I'm never coming back here again either. By the way Mike, you have NEVER made anyone go through that before in a test."

Now I should let you know at that the last few years we changed our syllabus to included stripes for our white belts. We've found that having these mini steps help keep people motivated, focus on perfecting specific techniques, and is good way to track everyone's progress. Normally the stripe tests are just observing technique and doesn't include any physical conditioning or mental toughness. We save that for the actual belt tests.

I should also let you know that our SAMBO tests have become alot easier throughout the years. I remember you used to have to do a gauntlet just to earn a white belt. For my yellow belt test I was required to run 2 miles before I was allowed to start the warm up portion of the test. Sirc went into a mini coma after his yellow belt test. Never had to free grapple for a test? WTF was he talking about?

I was perplexed by TT sudden explosion and walk off the mat. Omega followed him to show him the door, he was a bit pissed at being accused of being "extra evil" just because TT was testing. Normally I would try to intervene in these type of situations but I felt Omega was justified; this was a normal part of our belt testing, stop being a baby about it. I even let him know later if he had just kept his mouth shut he would have passed. Because of his poor attitude, I had changed my mind.

There was more drama that followed, but I'll let Omega tell that part if he wants. We should let Dethlok and animamthr give some perspective on this as well.

BTW, proof the gauntlet has always been part of sambo tests

5:00

3:25

wow, sounds like he developed a bad case of Vaginitis about half way through the test. Would love to hear from the other people on it too :)

TT texted me the next day apologizing for his behavior; he was sure that I had seen this before. No I hadn't. Where as I was willing to let bygones be bygones I didn't believe his apology and wanted to see what would happen in time. At this point realize his girlfriend had also tested and passed. IMO he started pressuring her and she eventually left the gym. The details are subjective on the matter.

Last year (literally) he had posted comment on a picture of our guys doing well at a competition on our facebook page. Some of our members go mad so I removed the comment. I also removed a comment he put on a comment about my daughter which I found disrespectful.

A few days later I get this PM from him via facebook. About a 100 word rant. My response was (paraphrase)Dude, you're getting mad over something you don't understand, this is just like that temper tantrum you did at the test, and that the reason for me removing his comments were not as bad as he thought they were. His next rant was just a bit shorter, this time involving my parents. Then accused me of avoiding telling him why I had done what I done. I simply told him if had simply asked I would have told him but instead he just wants to rant.

His next response he decided to cross the line. His remark ended with "....you're married a ridiculously ugly woman." I decided not to let it get to me. I let him know he could always come down to the gym and say it to my face, and that one day I would give him the opportunity to say these things to my face.

Christmas came early last year. I saw him in a Chinese Restaurant. I walked up to him to give him a chance to say what he needed to say outside; I even told him I wasn't there to fight, that he could say without any fear of getting hurt. He refused to take the situation outside, and I refused to let the situation drop. So he said some babbling **** right there in the restaurant,the details are irrelevant, and afterwards I went to go join my wife. As my wife and I left I went up to the manager to apologize for the situation I caused then I walked over to where he was sitting and I apologized to his family for causing a scene.

At which he screamed "Don't you ever talk to my family".

His dad looked at him and lectured "If a man wants to apologize let him..."

I walked away, mission completed.

So does it end there? Not even close but that's probably a story for another time.